Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmastime 1998...Mel's first. I miss these little rascals. Such great faces...such bright futures. man. where did these little people go?

I'm gonna guess that this is my 6th or 7th Christmas...awww. Oh, to be a kid again, even for just one moment.

The li'l goofball in the red striped shirt is Becky (she looks like one of the Jackson's). We'll go around the table behind her...Aunt Nan in teal shirt (my Dad's sister), her son, Jon, you can see my head right behind him, then Gma G, Uncle Frank (married to Aunt Nan), my Dad, Aunt Mimi, Andy, Jenna (Aunt Nan/Uncle Frank's oldest), Tom, making a weird O face, and Aunt Darlene, who is married to my Dad's big bro, John, not pictured here for some reason. My Gma knew how to set a table...I will strive to be like her. I did buy a cute CLOTH snowflake table covering for this Christmas...and will put some neat o mosaic candles on it. But the plates will most likely be Chinet and the decorations are more like Charlie Brown Christmas....haphazard strings of random lights, Nutcrackers, and no bird chirping in my tree. We will sup on traditional Lasagna...Cappucino punch and whatever baked goods are left from our day of baking (which will be today)....sounds very Martha Stewart, doesn't it?

Oh Christmas TREE! I miss that bay window.

Soooo, are you all ready for Christmas?

I am, almost. Mom's calendar won't be done till just before the new year...I'm ready for some party time...

Tomorrow (ahh, can't believe tomorrow IS Christmas Eve), we will head to Illinois mid morning. Stop in to visit Aunt Linda and her brood....Kara and her fam are in from SC and will be moving to Jolly Ol' England in the late winter...so it's a must...lotsa cool peeps at that house! Then we descend on the ol' log cabin in Georgetown for an afternoon of mistletoe and merriment. Well, definitely merriment.

We will then visit a local church (here in Indpls area) upon our late evening return for a lovely candlelight service...important to focus on why we celebrate what we celebrate and that is Emmanuel, God With Us.

Hopefully the kids won't wake up too early. It's not like they are getting anything besides a lump of coal in their stockings...I'm kidding...I have a couple of things for them...and then my fam will be here mid afternoon for more moonshine and merriment...er, I mean, mistletoe and merriment...followed by an evening of delight and fellowship! A good time is sure to be had by MOST.

This will probably be my last post till after Christmas, so Feliz Navidad, Mele Kalikimaka, Merry Christmas and God bless YOU.